CS Gaz Metan Mediaș


Clubul Sportiv Gaz Metan Mediaș, commonly known as Gaz Metan Mediaș, or simply as Gaz Metan, is a Romanian professional football club based in Mediaș, Sibiu County.
It was founded in 1945 as Karres Mediaș and currently plays in the Liga I, the highest level of the Romanian football league system.

History

Founding and early years (1945–1950)

The club was founded in 1945 under the name of Karres Mediaș and participated in the Romanian Second League. The team achieved promotion to the Divizia A in 1947, club's name was changed to CSM Mediaș in the same year. At the end of the season, the team managed to secure a comfortable 11th place out of 16, in its first Divizia A season. Financial troubles and inadequate training conditions plagued the club's second Liga I season. After the second round, disgruntled players complaint to the press and the Romanian Football Federation about the poor training conditions at the club. FRF decided to allow the factory Zorile Roșii to take the ownership of the club. The name of the team was also changed to Zorile Roșii Mediaș. Later that season the team merged with Vitrometan Mediaș. The second half of the season brought another change in ownership, also the most recent in the club's history, when it was taken over by Ateliere Gaz Metan and the name was changed to Gaz Metan Mediaș. The team relegated to Liga II the same season. The 1948–49 team was formed by Kodacek – Sulyak, Szobo – Șerban, Molnar, Rășinaru – Pop, Coman, Guța, Szabo, Pologea.

Gaz Metan, a respected second league team (1950–1999)

This period is characterized by frequent name changes, but also by the most important performance ever achieved by the club: the Romanian Cup final. The club carried the following names: Partizanul, Flacara, Energia, Gaz Metan, and CSM Mediaș. The final name change took place in 1963 when the club reverted to its former Gaz Metan Mediaș name. In 1951, the club achieved its most significant domestic performance by reaching the final stage of the Romanian Cup as a Divizia B team. Led from the bench by the famous Ștefan Dobay, Flacăra lost 3–1 in overtime against CCA București. Goalscorer for Flacăra Mediaș was Coman. Team: Varaday – Luca, Szabo – Dumitrescu, Molnar I, Costea – Pop, Papay, Coman, Szasz, Moldovan. In the period that followed, Gaz Metan participated mostly in the Divizia B, becoming a regular and respected name of this echelon, occupying mid-rank positions until 1972 when it relegated for the first time to Divizia C. After that, was an immediate promotion back to Divizia B, where it evolved until 1976 when it relegated for the second time in the third division of the Romanian football league system. The club promoted again in the Divizia B next year where it remained until 1992, with the following results: 1977–78 – 8th, 1978–79 – 9th, 1979–80 – 11th, 1980–81 – 7th, 1981–82 – 6th, 1982–83 – 8th, 1983–84 – 5th, 1984–85 – 6th, 1985–86 – 5th, 1986–87 – 7th, 1987–88 – 10th, 1988–89 – 11th, 1989–90 – 10th, 1990–91 – 11th and 1991–92 – 14th. As a consequence of the place occupied at the end of the 1991–92 season of Divizia B, gaziștii relegated to Divizia C, for the third time in their long existence. That difficult moment was handled exemplary by the Transylvanian team, which promoted back after only one year by winning the third series of the third league with 5 points ahead of the second place, Petrolul Stoina, a team from Gorj County.
Returned to a Divizia B with only 2 series, instead of 3, as it was before, Gaz Metan resumed its safe evolutions with a meritorious 7th place in the first season, 11th place in the second one and with a 4th place at the end of the 1995–96 season, best rank in the last over 20 years for the team from Mediaș. Next season Gaz Metan would become from a respected team, a feared one, because it ended on the podium starting to announce its serious intentions to return in the first league of the Romanian football. This season was followed by two seasons of hard battle with the following results: 1997–98 – 5th and 1998–99 – 4th.

Gaz Metan is back (2000–2014)

The first year of the 21st century has brought a great success for the black and whites, the promotion to Divizia A after no less than 51 years after the last presence in the first league. Led by the coach Jean Gavrilă, Gaz Metan secured promotion to 1999–2000 Divizia A with an 11 points advance of the second place, occupied by ARO Câmpulung. The squad that achieved that historical promotion was composed of: GK: Filip, Roșca – DF: Ciurar, Grigore, Grasu, Lungu, Șomfălean, Vasile -MF: Zotincă, Boroncoi, Callo, Hanc, Ioan, Moldovan, Pătru, Stoica – FW: Vitan, Boloban, Boaru, Găldean, Șomfălean. 51 years of absence were too much and the shock of the first league level has hit hard in the morale of the team, the joy of promotion was quitting fast and gaziștii finished on the last place with a disastrous ranking line, only 3 victories, 9 draws and 18 defeats, 21 goals scored and 42 conceded, in total 18 points, with 16 less than 15th place, occupied at that time by Rocar București.
, played between 2005 and 2011 for Gaz Metan, being one of the leaders of the squad that obtained best results in the club's history.
2001–02 season was finding the team back in the second league, with morale to the ground and trying to rebuild a competitive team, Gaz Metan finished only on 12th place. With the start of the 2002–03 season the club was again in the fight for promotion, but finally resembled with a 3rd place, first under the promotion places, occupied by Apulum Alba Iulia and FC Oradea. For the supporters things seemed clear, Gaz Metan had returned to its status as a Divizia B team, only now it seemed a team decided to fight for promotion than a mid-rank team. In the following season, the results were: 2003–04 – 4th, 2004–05 – 2nd, 2005–06 – 4th and 2006–07 – 6th with the statement that in 2005 the team missed the promotion in the last minute after finishing at the same number of points with Jiul Petroșani.
In 2008 led by coach Cristian Pustai, a former Gaz Metan player, the team secured promotion to Liga I from second spot after a hard fight and promoted to Liga I, 8 years away from the last presence, team: Ștețca – Grillo, Lazăr, Zaharia, Buzean – Dudiță, Eric, Hoban, Curtean – Boaru, C.Prodan. The team finished the 2008–09 season on 15th position out of 18 teams, the last spot leading to relegation. Following the corruption scandal involving FC Argeș Pitești and the subsequent relegation of the team in Liga II, Gaz Metan remained in the first league. 2009–10 season was finished on the 10th place, far away from the relegation zone, providing a new record for the club, 3 consecutive seasons in the Liga I.
The white and blacks finished 7th in the 2010–11 season and secured a UEFA Europa League participation for the following season, its first in history. Gaz Metan reached the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League play-off round by eliminating KuPS of Finland in the second round and Mainz of Germany in the third round. Gaz Metan lost in the play-offs to Austria Wien. Domestically, Gaz Metan reached the Romanian Cup semi-finals in the 2011–12 season but was eliminated by the future cup winner Dinamo București and finished on 13th place in the league. In the next two seasons, the team consolidates its first league-team status through the following results: 2012–13 – 10th and 2013–14 – 13th.

Difficult times (2014–present)

has brought major changes to the first league competitive system by reducing the number of teams from 18 to 14, leading to the relegation of 6 teams. Lupii negri finished on the 13th place, first under the relegation line and returned to Liga II after 7 consecutive years in the first league, longest run for the club, with the best performance in club's history and with the first participation in the European competitions.
Gaz Metan has once again proved to be an ambitious team and promoted back after only one season in the second league, 2015–16 team: Greab – Romeo, Cristea, Zaharia, Buzean – P.Iacob, Danci – Munteanu, Bic, Petre – Gavra. 2016–17 season was a tumultuous one for the team from Mediaș which finished the regular season on the 7th place, at only 2 points distance from a play-off place and qualified for the play-out round, when it finished on 2nd place. The club also encountered serious financial problems choosing to go into insolvency.
In the summer of 2017 the club has approached a low-budget strategy and after 22 rounds played in the 2017–18 season, the club is on 12th place, just above the relegation zone, but with the same number of points as the team from the 13th place, the first place situated in the red zone.

Stadium

Gaz Metan plays its home games on the Municipal Gaz Metan Stadium. The stadium has a capacity of 8000 seats with half of the seats covered; playing surface with under-soil heating and a 1500 lux floodlights system. The stadium is homologated to host preliminary rounds of any UEFA club competitions as well as U21 international games.
The stadium underwent major renovations and expansions in 2010. The playing surface was replaced in its entirety and covered stands were built on the opposite side of the main stands, increasing the stadium's capacity to 7,814 seats.

Support

Gaz Metan has many supporters in Mediaș and especially in Sibiu County. The ultras groups of Gaz Metan Mediaș are known as Lupii Negri and Commando Mediensis.

Rivalries

The most important rivalries overtime for Gaz Metan were against football clubs from Sibiu whether they were: Șoimii Sibiu, Inter Sibiu, FC Sibiu or Voința Sibiu. Now the team that represents Sibiu is FC Hermannstadt and the two clubs met for the first time on 17 April 2018, in a Romanian Cup semi-final, in front of many fans.

Honours

Domestic

Leagues

;UEFA Europa League
SeasonRoundOpponentHomeAwayAggregate
2011–12Second qualifying round KuPS2–00–12–1
2011–12Third qualifying round Mainz 051–1 1–12–2
2011–12Play-off round Austria Wien1–01–32–3

Players

First team squad

Out on loan

Club Officials

Board of directors

RoleName
President vacant
Sporting Director Claudiu Boaru
Economic Director Dorina Doszpoly
Youth Center Director Costel Hanc
Responsible for Order and Safety Marius Nistor
Press Officer Alexandru Pîntea
Delegate Alin Iordănescu

RoleName
Manager Dušan Uhrin Jr.
Assistant Manager Petr Čuhel
Goalkeeping Coach Dragoș Picu
Fitness Coach Denis Kavan
Club Doctor Radu Paralescu
Masseurs Marian Rusu
Dumitru Fodor
Andrei Precup
Second Team Manager Dumitru Solomon

SeasonTierDivisionPlaceCupa României
2019–201Liga I6thRound of 32
2018–191Liga I7thRound of 16
2017–181Liga I10thSemi-finals
2016–171Liga I8thRound of 16
2015–162Liga II 1st '
2014–151Liga I13th 'Round of 32
2013–141Liga I13thRound of 16
2012–131Liga I10thRound of 16
2011–121Liga I13thSemi-finals
2010–111Liga I7thRound of 32
2009–101Liga I10thRound of 16
2008–091Liga I15thRound of 32
2007–082Liga II 2nd '
2006–072Liga II 6th
2005–062Divizia B 4thRound of 32
2004–052Divizia B 2ndRound of 16

SeasonTierDivisionPlaceCupa României
2003–042Divizia B 4thRound of 32
2002–032Divizia B 3rd
2001–022Divizia B 12th
2000–011Divizia A16th 'Round of 32
1999–002Divizia B 1st '
1998–992Divizia B 4th
1997–982Divizia B 5thRound of 16
1996–972Divizia B 3rd
1995–962Divizia B 4thRound of 16
1994–952Divizia B 11th
1993–942Divizia B 7th
1992–933Divizia C 1st '
1991–922Divizia B 14th Round of 32
1990–912Divizia B 11th
1989–902Divizia B 10th

Notable former players

The footballers enlisted below have had international cap for their respective countries at junior and/or senior level and/or more than 100 caps for CS Gaz Metan Mediaș.
;Albania
;Algeria
;Argentina
;Brazil
;Bulgaria
;Cameroon
;Georgia
;Greece
;Jordan
;Portugal
;Serbia
;Slovakia
;Suriname
;Venezuela